BALTIMORE – Baltimore City Public Schools (City Schools) four-year graduation rate increased 1.9 percentage points over last year, beating the decrease experienced in Maryland overall.
The school system’s four-year graduation rate grew from 68.7% for the Class of 2022 to 70.6% for the Class of 2023. By contrast, Maryland’s four-year graduation rate dipped by 0.5 percentage points vs. the Class of 2022 and 1.1 percentage points vs. the Class of 2019.
The Class of 2023 results are particularly notable because this cohort of students was in the ninth grade in early spring 2020 when the pandemic hit and school buildings closed. They experienced virtual learning for their 10th-grade year and managed a challenging year of COVID variants and quarantines as 11th-grade students.
As a response, City Schools employed a variety of strategies, including expanded credit recovery options, enabling students impacted by the pandemic to ultimately graduate on time.
“The increases in our graduation rate overall and within student groups are another chapter in a now-familiar story of rising student achievement in City Schools. Our students and schools are not only demonstrating progress locally but are now outpacing the growth of their peers in Maryland in key measurements of academic success,” said Sonja Brookins Santelises, chief executive officer of City Schools. “These outcomes reflect the hard work and dedication of our high school teachers, school leaders, counselors, and community partners. Our strategies are working, and the results are clear.”
Work to support graduation includes:
Ninth graders are supported through the On Track to Graduate work, in which adults review their attendance, behaviors, and grades to ensure that they have the support needed to stay on track. We have ensured there is one On Track to Graduate coordinator in nearly every high school.
Students have a graduation plan that helps students understand where they are in relation to what is needed to graduate based on their cohort: courses, credits, service learning hours, and assessment participation or performance.
All high school students can take AP courses at their school.
Continue implementing our five-year CTE Plan - By 2024-2025, we will provide 9,000 CTE pathways seats with more pathways aligned to occupations that earn a living wage.
Added the postsecondary advisors and career coaches to support the college and career transition after high school – career opportunities, college application process, enrollment in the armed forces, match with apprenticeships, and other postsecondary coaching support services.
Work-based learning gives students a chance to learn and participate in the workforce with coaching.
Ensure every student is engaged in one of three post-high school college and career readiness pathways – completed two AP or IB courses, completed two pre-dual enrollment courses, or completed three CTE courses.
Dropout rate
City Schools’ 4-year dropout rate increased 1.5 percentage points (17.8% vs. 19.3%), while the state experienced a 1.3 percentage point increase in its dropout rate (8.5% vs. 9.8%).
📸: Frederick Douglass High School 2023 Summer Graduation
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